Taipei City health officials yesterday advised people who are preparing to travel to Canada in the near future to be vaccinated against mumps before departure. Canada is experiencing an outbreak of the highly infectious disease, with about 300 cases being reported last month, officials said.
Mumps is an acute viral disease which is spread by saliva droplets or direct contact with articles contaminated with saliva. Children aged nine or younger are prone to the disease.
not severe
While symptoms are generally not severe in children, nearly 30 percent of male adults who are infected with mumps develop orchitis -- an imflammation of the testis -- while about 5 percent of infected female patients develop ovaritis -- an inflammation of the ovaries.
The incubation period is usually between 12 days and 25 days, with affected persons suffering from fever and a painful swelling of the salivary glands, said Lin Pi-fen (林碧芬), deputy chief of the city's disease control department.
free inoculations
Lin said that Taiwan began a free inoculation service against mumps in 2004. Since then, the infection rate has significantly decreased throughout the nation, with only five cases being reported last year.
Although mumps is not usually a fatal disease, she said, the rate of infections is used internationally as an indicator of a nation's public health.
She advised parents to vaccinate all infants aged between 12 months and 15 months and for anyone planning to travel to affected areas to be vaccinated at least two weeks before departing on their trip.
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
RSS